Smart Notice on the LG G3 - what is it and should you use it?

LG is trying to help you through your days with Smart Notice, but is it worth your time?

What's the best way to describe the LG G3's Smart Notice widget? Think Google Now, but much scaled down, and you're on the right sort of track. It's main purpose in life is to deliver you information before you need it.

But does it live up to that, and is it worth keeping LGs widget permanently on your homescreen?

The official run through

What does it do?

While it might be like Google Now, Smart Notice is nowhere near as full featured. There is, however, still a pretty lengthy list of features on offer. Including:

New contacts - Provides a card when there are frequent calls made to a number not in your contacts asking you if you'd like to add it

Callback reminders - Reminds you to ring back those numbers you declined

Battery saver - Reminds you with a card when your battery is getting low

Birthday notifications - Never again forget those important birthdays

Smart Cleaning - Gives you a heads up when it thinks you might want to reclaim some of that space taken up by temporary files. More on Smart Cleaning here

Memo reminders - Notify you on time and location sensitive reminders

Smart Tips - Already occupies half of the Smart Bulletin screen, but just in case you need an added tip here and there

Traffic notifications - Tries to help you stay clear of the congestion on your commutes

Weather alerts - Gives you a little more information on the weather, and warns you if it's going to turn bad out your way

Plenty on offer, then. The biggest problem is that there are a bunch of other applications on the G3 that you're going to already be using to manage most of what Smart Notice gives you.

So, should I be using it?

Unless you really, really like the appearance of the widget, you're not going to be missing out. If you're using things like LG Health and Smart Tips you're going to be doing it using Smart Bulletin already. The additional weather information you get in Smart Notice is no substitute for just looking in even the stock Weather app on the phone. And you're going to be using your calendar and Google Now to better effect for some other bits.

Oh, and with it removed from your home screen you might even notice things become a little snappier. It's a nice idea, but by no means a must use.

I ran it for about a half day when I got the phone. Turned it off and haven't looked back. I don't think it is bad per se' just was not needed for the information that it brings, the implementations that they speak of in this article are all superior for my needs as well. Loving the phone overall however!

Click the Circle button at the bottom of the home screen (the one with 6 dots in it), go to the 'Widgets' tab at the top, keep scrolling until you find the weather Widget and then hold it down. The phone will then show a preview of your home screen and you can drag and drop the weather app to where you want it :)

Just released in an article by phone arena, there is a security breach in LG G3s smart notice. The article is called "Newfound security hole in the LG G3 made user data on it prone to intruders" I don't want to scare anyone, but definitely make sure it you use smart notice, you download the patch. LG made a match immediately after finding out.